Boulder worries about being a 'homeless magnet'

Council members want programs that deliver results but don't attract outsiders

A homeless man sleeps next to Boulder Creek near the Boulder Public Library Main Branch on Friday, May 9, 2014. (Mark Leffingwell / Daily Camera)

Boulder should find ways to invest its human services money that will make a dent in homelessness, but without making the city even more of a magnet for homeless people from around the region, City Council members said Tuesday night.

"Nobody wants to hurt someone who is down on their luck, but whether we're drawing more people to our city is a question that needs to be answered," Councilman Macon Cowles said in comments that were echoed by other council members during an update on the city's human services strategy.

Intake data released by social service agency and day shelter Bridge House last year showed that more than half of the people who sought help there had lived in Boulder less than six months.

Boulder's Housing and Human Services Department is in the process of revising its strategy, with adoption scheduled for June 2015. Boulder is looking to clarify its role in the provision of human services, which is traditionally and legally a county mandate, and secure more regional cooperation.

At the same time, the city is considering focusing its human services spending on a few priority areas in hopes of making a greater impact.

Now, the city spends about 8 percent of its human services fund, or $525,503, on direct services for the homeless. Seniors get 17 percent, or $1.175 million, while family support services get 16 percent, or $1.078 million, and child care and preschool programs get 15 percent, or $1.006 million. The city also funds groups that work with school-aged children, adult health services, immigrant legal services and support for victims of domestic violence.

Boulder Mayor Matt Appelbaum said the city's support for affordable housing programs, which are not included in the human services budget, and for medical care for the poor also help the homeless.

Housing and Human Services Director Karen Rahn said homelessness has broad financial impacts, from the hospital to the jail, and solutions that seem expensive, like providing permanent housing and intensive case management to the chronically homeless, actually save money. At the same time, the city is trying to get more data from social service providers to see if services are being provided in an efficient way to people who want help.

City Council members said Boulder spends far more than neighboring communities on services for the homeless, and other Boulder County communities need to contribute more.

Appelbaum said that contribution needs to be not just in the form of money but in services provided in those communities so that people don't come to Boulder.

Councilman George Karakehian said he has become friends with a man who is working hard to get out of homelessness and is now on a list for transitional housing. That friend told him how easy it is to "game the system," Karakehian said.

"I believe we're far too easy in admittance into our system than other communities are," he said. "We should give a nod to locals. I hate to see someone who starts in Denver and comes to Boulder and then goes to Greeley and then back to Boulder take the spot of someone who is from here. We are somewhat of a homeless magnet, and I am concerned we will not get ahead of the curve because the more services we provide, the more homeless come."

Cowles said the city should provide a platform via Channel 8 for homeless people to tell their stories so that the broader community better understands the people behind the social problem.

Appelbaum said the community groups giving feedback on the human services plan should include not just service providers but members of the community who feel fed up with conditions on the municipal campus and in the main public library.

"Those are voices that often don't get included in these discussions," he said.

Missy Franklin, Jenny Simpson, Adeline Gray and three other Colorado women could be big players at the 2016 Rio OlympicsWhen people ask Missy Franklin for her thoughts about the Summer Olympics that will begin a year from Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro, she hangs a warning label on her answer.